Track HPDE days, 991GT3, Cup2's and Rain
04-28-2015, 05:17 PM
#1
Instructor
Thread Starter
Track HPDE days, 991GT3, Cup2's and Rain
Don't know what any others experiences have been, but I thought I'd post my initial impression of the 991GT3, rain and the Cup2's. Our local PCA region, RMR just put on it's first track event of the season at High Plains Raceway this last weekend, the 25th & 26th of April. Saturday was a great day, cool little to no wind and mostly dry. Weather moved in Saturday night, I70 in fact between Denver and Byers was closed for a time either late Saturday evening, or early Sunday morning due to accumulation of hail on the road - in fact there were visible traces of hail, several inches deep on the sides of the road on the drive back out to the track Sunday morning @ 7am
The first session Sunday was schedule for our regions "Black" group (RMR was/is running 4 groups, in rough order of experience levels, Green, Blue, Orange & Black) It had been raining (& hailing, although the hail had either melted, or been swept off the track by the time of the 1st session) hard earlier. By the time of session 1, the rain had backed off to a light drizzle which would come, and go in intensity often with the wind.
I have to say, I was astonished at: (a) the level of grip the Michelin Cup2's provided once slightly warmed up; and (b) the confidence the PSM programing and system afforded running in the variable wet conditions. I never spun, I mostly was able to say out of/off the PSM, but when it did intervene I almost hate to say it, but. . . . I had to kind of agree it was making better decisions than I was. There were a couple or three 991 Twin Turbos also running - harder than hell to keep up with in a straight line, and/or could usually "pull" better out of slower turns than the GT3, but . . . . . the car could, did and was mostly eventually able to keep up with the 991TT's, if not get point bys now and then.
The 991GT3 and the Cup2 tires were IMO simply astonishingly good in the wet. Wish I had a video camera running to document some of the speed and control the car's capable of under those conditions. Cheers, mlp
The first session Sunday was schedule for our regions "Black" group (RMR was/is running 4 groups, in rough order of experience levels, Green, Blue, Orange & Black) It had been raining (& hailing, although the hail had either melted, or been swept off the track by the time of the 1st session) hard earlier. By the time of session 1, the rain had backed off to a light drizzle which would come, and go in intensity often with the wind.
I have to say, I was astonished at: (a) the level of grip the Michelin Cup2's provided once slightly warmed up; and (b) the confidence the PSM programing and system afforded running in the variable wet conditions. I never spun, I mostly was able to say out of/off the PSM, but when it did intervene I almost hate to say it, but. . . . I had to kind of agree it was making better decisions than I was. There were a couple or three 991 Twin Turbos also running - harder than hell to keep up with in a straight line, and/or could usually "pull" better out of slower turns than the GT3, but . . . . . the car could, did and was mostly eventually able to keep up with the 991TT's, if not get point bys now and then.
The 991GT3 and the Cup2 tires were IMO simply astonishingly good in the wet. Wish I had a video camera running to document some of the speed and control the car's capable of under those conditions. Cheers, mlp
Last edited by mlpor; 04-28-2015 at 10:33 PM.
04-29-2015, 12:12 PM
#2
Burning Brakes
Thanks for posting that mlpor. I've driven in extremely heavy rains with the MPSC2 Tires on road trips and found them to perform surprisingly well at high speeds (60 - 90 MPH) even through puddling water depths that would have had the older Cup Tires aquaplaning. Fortunately, my Track days have been mostly dry, but nice to hear they did a great job for you in the wet, even at track speeds.